Starting Over
by Mage-Alia
Summary: ONESHOT - Theresa wasn't the only one to miraculously survive the rigors of time. Snippits about an alternate world where the Hero of Oakvale didn't just vanish.


Fable AU

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><p>Starting over<p>

by Mage-Alia

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><p>ONESHOT - Theresa wasn't the only one to miraculously survive the rigors of time. Snippits about an alternate world where chicken chaser didn't just vanish.<p>

Pairing: SparrowxChicken Chaser (slash - Don't like, Don't read, but there's no explicit content except for maybe a few curse words...)

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><p>"No."<p>

His tone was final as he avoided looking at the child laying in his sister's arms.

"You cannot run away from destiny dear brother." She responded, voice calm. Pale unseeing eyes stared out from under her cowl and Liam frowned darkly.

"The boy's already dead, he just doesn't know it yet." He grunted, eyeing the limp body.

"Yet, there is still a chance to save him, but I cannot do it myself." He glared.

"Whatever your plans are I don't care!" He proclaimed, throwing up his hands. "The world is probably better off for it! Now leave Theresa, and never darken my doorstep again!" He turned away, one hand ready to draw the curtain of his caravan closed behind him when she finally spoke, throwing her last weapon into the argument.

"Before he was Sparrow, his parents named him Hadrian."

He froze cold.

Theresa smirked, seeing her victory clearly in the otherworld where the argument was taking place. Her brother's broad shoulders twitched, stressed lines forming in his back as his hand nearly broke the frame of the door, making it creek and groan under his powerful grip.

"Leave him." He said finally, not turning back to see her face when he already knew the expression he would find there. "Leave the boy and get out of here, go away and never darken my doorstep again. If I ever see you again, it will be for the last time." He spat the words, real hate for his only living family dripping from every letter. Silently Theresa lowered the boy to the top of the stairs and stepped back.

"I will return for him." She said quietly... knowingly. "Until then, learn well Little Sparrow." The last words said, she walked away, and it wasn't until she'd left the walls of the gypsy encampment that Liam finally turned around. Blue eyes lowered to the broken form on the ground and he crouched, taking the boy into his arms.

"You'll live boy." He said at last as he brought him inside. "No one's gonna die today, unless it's _Her_." The last of his thoughts spoken, he entered the caravan proper, sliding the curtain closed behind him, beginning a new chapter, in the life of a little Sparrow.

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><p>"You know I never got my happy ending."<p>

The silent Behemoth that had been his guardian for the last five years hadn't spoken a word to him that wasn't necessary the entire time.. but now... Sparrow's attention riveted onto his mentor as the man stared out over the Bowerstone Lakelands.

"I had a lover once you know." The man continued nostalgically. "I fought half the world for him and when I came home we were going to be married, but before we could be, an old enemy came back to haunt me." His eyes were almost heartbreakingly saddened and Unbidden Sparrow laid his hand on one massive bicep, silently urging him on. "She hit me with a spell, and the next thing I knew I was awoken in a cave by the survivors of Oakvale. Apparently, I was sealed there after the spell imprisoned me in crystal... and the one who ordered it done was my sister."

Sparrow almost flinched at the taboo topic.

He'd only ever brought up the woman that had saved him once in the entire time he'd been in Ranger's care and it had been the last when Ranger had walked out of their caravan and vanished for a week afterward...

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><p>"Ahhh, I can see it in your eyes, you're in love." Hannah's voice startled him out of his memories and Sparrow blushed crimson. The Monk laughed loud and clear.<p>

"So who's the lucky woman?" She asked elbowing him in the side. She might have knocked the wind right out of him if it wasn't for the fact he was built of stronger stuff. He looked down and blushed.

"It's not a woman..." He admitted shyly, making the red haired lady blink before she burst out into delighted laughter again.

"Aye, must be a lucky man then." She crowed brightly. Sparrow blushed again as his mind wondered to the mental image of Liam bathing in the lake. "Do tell!" Hannah noticed again and Sparrow found himself seated by the road side a few seconds later telling her rather enthusiastically about Ranger. In another world, he might have used the name Liam, but he couldn't bring himself to share the name that no one knew. Hannah stared at him with wide eyes as he described Liam and his fighting, the emotions he made him feel and of course the sex. Having been raised a monk, Hannah had never been into meaningful contact with members of the opposite sex. It had never been an issue in a monastery of celibate monks.

But out in the great wide world she was being faced with all sorts of forbidden fruit. She buried herself in her cups in an attempt to ignore, but when her friend spoke so passionately about life and love, she couldn't help but wonder what such things would be like...

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><p>Liam sat before the fire, staring deeply into the flames as Garth busied himself staring at the side of his head.<p>

"What if we could change the future." He asked, out of the blue, and the hero of will almost jumped out of his skin at the unexpected sound.

"How do you propose we do that? Your sister is a seer after all, she'd be ten steps ahead of us." Liam's lip twitched into a sneer at the mention of his sister.

"She can't be everywhere at once you know. She, like any other human, only pays attention to the futures she wants to see." He lifted the bottle to his lips and took a long pull, his eyes never leaving the fire as they painted the blue depths red. "The tower is powerful, but it's only just a tool. A weapon. A focus. It has no real ability without a wielder. It's clear what that bitch wants with it. It will amplify her powers a dozen times over."

Garth grunted.

"It's a lengthy attunement process though. It would take up to ten years in the spire itself to enable her to use it effectively." The will user pushed himself out of his chair and crossed the room to his desk, easily finding the papers all the calculations had been scribbled on over the last few weeks. "Lucien has a head start on us."

Liam finished the bottle in his hands and carelessly discarded it on a side table before heaving himself out of the chair. His eyes dragged down in exhaustion as he swayed slightly and righted himself.

"He doesn't stay there all the time." Liam said, following to look at Garth's work. "What if we could attune it to someone else? Could you do it?" The dark skinned man sighed.

"Attune myself? No. I don't think I could channel the necessary energies on myself. They require more concentration than normal will, and the focus needs to be external." Liam's earlier sneer became the faintest of smirks.

"I wasn't talking about you." He said, leaning back from the table and wondering to the window. "We need someone who won't abuse the power. Better yet, someone who won't know about it. 'She' can't see it if no one knew about it in the first place."

It took a few minutes of silence before Garth finally began to comprehend the line of thought.

"You mean to give him the power don't you." Liam frowned at the moon.

"She'd send him anywhere to make sure she got what she wanted. She's already decided she wants the three Hero lines. If you could get into the spire, maybe as a prisoner..." Garth didn't like the idea but the older Hero's idea was very plainly clear.

"She'd send him in after me."

Liam didn't like the idea either. The emotions on his face writing a clear story about his thoughts on the matter. Garth strode quickly across the room, taking Liam by the shoulders as he moved him around to see into his eyes.

"Are you sure? Really sure that this is the way you want this to end?" Garth searched the Hero's expression earnestly, looking for any possible sign of reluctance... but there was none. Liam's eyes were hard. Steeled with a resolve that would never break, just as he'd never broken. He believed more than anyone that Hadrian could do it.

There was an inkling of fate in his gaze that might have compared to that of his sister.

"Alright." Garth dropped his hands and turned back to his desk, riffling through the papers and pulling out a pen to mark down newly forming equations. Behind him Liam's form sagged in exhaustion.

"The things you do for me." He sighed, holding his face in his hands while Garth smirked, not looking back at him.

"I won't do it for you Old Friend." he admitted. "I'll do it for a boy I didn't save." The pen stilled against the paper, leaving a large ugly blot staining the velum. "The Spire will grant him his deepest wish. Whatever he wants will become his reality. Maybe then he'll have everything that that night took from him."

Liam didn't respond and when Garth finally turned around the Hero was gone, leaving the curtains to flutter in the night air.

The Hero of Will gave one last sigh of his own before crouching low over his notes.

He had a Spire to change...

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><p>Hadrian froze.<p>

Dead?

As if he could see into his mind Lucian gave him a saddened sort of look.

"Yes… even that Barbarian of a man you call a lover. Ranger? I believe he was called? He took down many of my men, but that will not matter, they will be rewarded in the end. For their faithful service, but you… you will be seeing your family much sooner." He stopped, holding up his pistol once more, eyes flickering to the dog and back.

"This time there's no one left here to save you." The words where menacing even if his tone wasn't and without another second of hesitation he pulled the trigger.

Hadrian's world vanished into a screen of white...

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><p>"Hey! Little Sparrow! Time to wake up!"<p>

He blinked, eyes fluttering open and closing again as he looked around in confusion only to have his eyes land on his sister…

His older "Dead" sister.

Nearly jumping out of his skin he leapt out of bed only to have his sister smile as he caught sight of their room, the old one they'd shared in their childhood before….

"Come on little Sparrow!" Rose ginned, waving her hands. "Mum and Dad are out at the market for the Entire day! That means we've got the farm to ourselves! I've set up a load of bottles for you to practice shooting at, and after that we can go take care of the beetles in the lower field, but we have to remember to round up the chickens as well, but since our parents aren't here we can kick them instead. We'll have ever so much fun."

Still confused Hadrian followed her out into the yard only to freeze at the sight of the lanky boy slumped against the base of the big oak tree in the paddock.

"Liam?" He asked, not even daring to hope, but the older boy grinned lopsidedly back.

"lo, Hadrian." He breathed quietly and the younger boy nearly flew across the yard, bowling the teen over in his hurry to embrace him. To the side, Rose was laughing and soon they'd gathered him up and where racing him around the farm, shooting the bottles and chasing beetles and chickens. He was panting as they all collapsed into the grass wishing the day would never end when Rose finally sat up.

The sun was fast heading toward the horizon in the distance and she sighed.

"Well little Sparrow, it's nearly time for bed. I'll go ahead and get everything ready." With a knowing look she got up and walked into the house leaving Hadrian and Liam laying side by side in the grass.

Hadrian almost didn't want to move but he rolled over anyway, meeting the piercing blue gaze of his lover and he knew that this wasn't just a figment of his imagination. His expression softened as he reached out to touch his cheek and Hadrian realised he was crying. Liam pulled him close and Hadrian tucked his head under his chin, sobbing quietly into his shirt.

"You're gone for real aren't you." He gasped out between sobs and the older teen just tightened his grip.

"I couldn't leave without saying goodbye." He said finally, allowing Hadrian to pull away so he could draw him into a kiss. His body was different but the kiss was the same, the younger boy melted.

"I miss you." He said through tears and Liam smiled sadly.

"I know. I'll miss you too." His fingers carded through his hair. "But it seems like they're determined to make sure we don't stay together… First in Bowerstone… now here… As much as I wish we could break the Hero's cycle it just keeps returning to now. To the point where the world would end if we didn't take the time to stop it. Just remember, I love you Hadrian. I loved you in your last life, I loved you in this life, and I was still, and always love you in the next."

At that moment he heard it. The distant chime of the music box, playing softly untouched by space or time. By the sound of it Rose had heard it too, because she came running from the house, looking mildly frantic as Liam pulled him to his feet, laying his hands on him shoulders.

"Go little sparrow." He said, his voice quiet, just like the day he'd left the gypsy's to start his great adventure, and suddenly, he didn't feel like the crying child he'd been a moment ago. "You where destined for greater things than death. My sister was right, even if I am Loathe to agree with her."

Hadrian knew this would be the last time he saw him.

Rose knew it too, because suddenly she was beside him, trying to tug him back inside.

"It's time to sleep Sparrow, come home with me. You'll see Liam again in the morning. _Please!_" She weighed barely more than a mouse as he gently shook her off.

"Goodbye Rose." He said simply as Liam took her around the waist and held her back as she cried and screamed to be let go. Hadrian watched them a moment longer, engraving Liam's solemn gaze and Rose's frantic screams into his mind before he turned and walked away.

She was still calling to him, even after he'd climbed over the now broken gate, and into the burning lane where they'd found his parents murdered forms. They lay strewn by the side of the road along with guards and their bandit attackers, but he paid them no heed as he walked onward, beckoned by the faint chimes of the music box.

And there it was.

Reality gave way as he stepped into a row of pillars that circled around a single pedestal that floated in the nothing, supporting the box, it's little silver key still turning in time to the music...

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><p>Before him was laid a choice, the last and only wish to be made by the tower… but making him choose..?<p>

He'd had three options, one of which was for infinite wealth… but no amount of wealth would ever give him back what he'd lost, so that had really only left two decisions for him to make.

He could bring back everyone killed by the spire during Lucien's reign… or he could bring back the only people who mattered to him.

His family.

Suddenly, he knew exactly why Liam had hated his sister so much.

Hadrian glared at her and even though she couldn't see it the smile she sent back at him was sickly at the edges.

"He always did love you too much." She commented and in that moment he wanted to kill her, but he couldn't. He looked between the two floating cards that both represented their individual outcome. One held a picture of the world, the other held the smiling image of Rose and his pet dog.

She didn't intend to resurrect Liam.

"What does it matter?" He asked bitterly not meeting her white gaze. "You're not going to bring him back even if I asked."

The cold smile remained.

"No." The word was filled with dreadful finality. "I will not."

His glare finally returned to her.

"Then resurrect whoever you want, the whole world, I don't care. Because even if you resurrect Rose or my damn Dog it won't mean a thing!" He raged, fingers itching for his sword so he could put it through her, but he didn't. "I Remember! Ever since waking up I REMEMBER HIM! Back in the days of the guild! The day he saved me! The time we spent together! The day he was put in that fucking Crystal and how fucking HOLLOW it was living without him afterward! And now I'm doomed to do that AGAIN!" His cheeks where flushed and his breath ragged as the memories still poured into his mind. Each remembered kiss and touch, every smile filled day, every time he'd saved him from harm and the nights they'd spent together in Oakvale under the stars.

He pressed his fingers against his closed eyes and sobbed, turning around so he wouldn't have to see either card floating there.

"I wish none of this had ever happened, that we'd never been special, that my parents hadn't died and that Lucien had never even heard about the spire let alone wanted to build it… but most of all, I want Liam back…"

Ignoring Theresa he walked out of the room, wandering down the empty halls of the spire and so caught up in his memories that he never heard when the spire walls pulsed around him, reacting to his one and only heartfelt wish.

"Wish granted."

The world went white one more, but this time, it was to the sound of Theresa's outraged scream...

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><p>"Hey! Sleepy head! Wake up! You'll be late!"<p>

Sparrow opened his eyes, blinking away the sleep as he looked up into the blue eyes of his lover and grinned.

"Morinin…" He mumbled, burying his face into his chest for a moment before sighing and rolling away. Liam watched him go before sliding gracefully out from between the sheets of their bed and pinning him against a nearby chest of draws with a searing kiss. When he drew away he was still smiling.

"Good luck today." He murmured pulling away to watch him dress. Sparrow threw a grin over his shoulder at the Ranger formerly known as Chicken chaser in their childhood.

"Luck? Ha!" He said cockily as he pulled on his pants and went to find his shirt where it had been thrown clear across the room the night before. "It's just guild exams! Nothing hard right? After all, YOU managed to pass them." The man, older by two years, just shook his head and smiled, throwing his boots over the bed at him.

"Then I'll see you in the guild hall at twelve then to take you out on your first mission." With one last kiss, he strode out into the hall of the guild dormitories in nothing but his boxers amid the catcalls and shouts of the other occupants of their floor. Hadrian grinned as a teacher yelled at the Hero to put some clothes on before the Mighty Ranger was suddenly renown to all as Streaker, making apprentices laugh out loud as Liam's retaliatory comment about jealousy rang back.

Picking up his weapons and equipment Sparrow stopped briefly as he passed his desk, fingers brushing against the letter he'd only just got from home. It seemed odd, for whatever reason, but it was oddly comforting to read Rose's prattle about life back on the farm. When the Bowerstone council, lead by Guildmaster Garth had announced that they where restarting the old Heroes Guild Hadrian had been one of the first in line to join. His parents couldn't have been any prouder as he climbed from the newly initiated to apprentice and finally, after so much work, he was going to become a hero. Just like the love of his life.

Liam had been one of the first graduating Heroes and also one of the most successful. He'd gallivanted across Albion for the last two years saving lives and making history, just like Hadrian had always seemed to know he would.

His lover made a spectacular Hero.

And so would he.

Leaving the letter from home where it was, he tightened his belt and crossed the threshold of his room, stepping out into a brand new day, where everything was right in the world, and last night's bad dream of the towering spire and the monsters it had held became nothing but that…. a bad dream.

Today…. Was going to be the perfect day…

He could feel it.

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><p>Don't forget to review<p>

Cya


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